Big Al
Big Al is an overweight gray bear who performs in the Disney theme park attraction Country Bear Jamboree. He also appears in the 2002 feature film based on the attraction. Background Biography From 1972's Country Bear Jamboree record album: Big Albert says, “I was born in a cave near the Princess Theater in Pocatello, Idaho”. There was music in his blood, and he’s been playing his guitar since he was a child. It’s become more difficult—Big Al has grown, and the guitar hasn’t. He loves to sit in front of his cave and sing. He was the first to practice ecology; he didn’t litter his cave with tin cans and paper cartons—he ate ‘em. He was resident bard and balladeer in the swamp before Walt Disney World was built (and three badgers and an alligator have expressed great joy that he is now singing for people). This is Big Albert’s 10th farewell appearance. Appearances ''Big Al Moves In'' A storybook released to coincide with the opening of Walt Disney World in 1971, Big Al Moves In tells of how Al came to live and perform with the Country Bears. When performing all the way through autumn and missing an opportunity to find a place to hibernate, Big Al travels south and performs to earn money for food, but ends up frightening the locals and jumps aboard a truck. Riding the truck, he ends up at Walt Disney World, where nobody bats an eye at him for being a talking bear. He makes his way to Grizzly Hall in Frontierland and meets the other Country Bears, who offer him a job performing with them and a place to stay. Comics In "Mickey and Donald in Frontierland", a story produced for the opening of Magic Kingdom, Big Al is one of three bears that plays hooky from the show to have a picnic on the shores of the Rivers of America, leading Mickey, Donald, and Henry to go get them back before showtime. Disney Parks Big Al appears during the ending of the show, singing "Blood on the Saddle" and threatening the momentum of the show in the process. The other bears start bringing their singing together to counter Al's off-key crooning and eventually drive him off stage. In Country Bear Vacation Hoedown, Big Al sings "I Got Lost On My Way To Your Heart" while wearing camping gear and a miner's helmet. In the American Country Bear Christmas Special, Big Al dresses up as Baby New Year and sings "Another New Year", while in the Tokyo Disneyland version, he sings "Auld Lang Syne" in a purple suit while lamenting his wife leaving him and taking his beloved hound dog with her. In these versions of the show, the other bears don't seem to have much of a problem with him performing, since they actually let him take part in the finale and sing. In the queue of Goofy's Sky School at Disney California Adventure, a letter from Big Al and the "Bear Brothers Backwoods Brewery" can be found on a bulletin board. Responding to a letter from Goofy asking if they can make some cheap fuel out of moonshine, Al has offered him a few batches while warning him that it hasn't been tested for machines and can pack a wallop. He also appears in the parks as a walk-around character along with fellow Country Bears Wendell, Shaker and Liver Lips. The Country Bears Big Al is the groundskeeper of Country Bear Hall and a technician for the band, developing the world-famous "Country Bears-Big Al Light Show", though in the years afterwards has taken pride in the Hall's lawn. While Henry and Beary Barrington go off on a journey to reunite the band, Al manages to keep stalling Reed Thimple, who is growing frustrated and impatient with his plans to tear down the hall. In the film's ending, Al lets everybody inside the theater from as he opens the doors to massive crowds, who he had park in the back to avoid messing up his grass. ''Epic Mickey'' In original concept art for the game, Big Al was planned to be one of the components of one of the Beetleworx enemies in the game, but was later scrapped. Trivia * Big Al is modeled after Al Bertino, a show writer at Imagineering * The skeleton of one of the Disneyland Big Al figures was recycled into the Oogie Boogie animatronic featured in Haunted Mansion Holiday. Gallery Category:Males Category:Singing characters Category:Bears Category:Theme park characters Category:Characters in Disney parks Category:Musicians Category:Country Bear characters Category:Anthropomorphic characters Category:Disney characters Category:Epic Mickey characters Category:Custodians Category:Disney INFINITY characters Category:Spell Cards characters